What’s Hot/What’s Not: 01/17/09
What’s Hot:
Haiti – Cable news swarmed all over the story of the Haiti earthquake and the resulting humanitarian crisis that unfolded.
Sarah Palin joins FNC – Palin joining FNC made for quite a bit of press and a full court press by FNC to feature Palin quickly on its primetime shows and Glenn Beck…
FBN Daytime changes – ICN broke news that FBN would be tweaking its daytime schedule by extending Don Imus to 9:20 am and creating a new branded show for Stuart Varney after Imus.
Matthew Freud Pushback – After a swirl of ridiculous rumors started circulating that Roger Ailes’ position at FNC was shaky, thanks to Matthew Freud’s “revelation” to the New York Times, there was concerted pushback by News Corp. and Ailes to stamp out the rumors…
NBC Late Night Shambles – Everyone was watching the train wreck in progress that is NBC’s Late Night TV lineup.
What’s Not:
Glenn Beck Power – Word emerged this week that a respected FNC producer for Glenn Beck’s show was essentially driven out by Beck’s team.
January 17, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Not to defend Beck, but do we know why this longtime producer was driven out?
January 17, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Isn’t this Leno/O’Brien thing unbelievable?
I thought the entire world knew that back in 2004, Leno was being forced out by NBC to make way for Conan O’Brien to take over the Tonight Show, For the longest time, it seemed that Leno would be picked up by Fox, ABC or someone else, and it was just in the last year or so they decided to keep him for their prime time lineup. Back in 2008, even the NY Times wrote (accurately, for once) about what was taking place: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/arts/television/27leno.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
But now all of these kids (i.e., people 45 and under) are making it seem that it was Leno’s idea to retire, and that all of a sudden he wants his Tonight Show back! They are ignoring the fact that Leno was forced out to begin with, and that O’Brien’s ratings were abyssmal! And they even call their hero “Coco” (isn’t that kind of feminine or diminutive in nature?)
Anyway, I thought I’d throw this out here to see what you all think. I am guessing that once again, the “youngin’s” will feel that big bad Leno changed his mind and forced “Coco” out, while those of us in the older demographic will remember the story as I cited, above. I can’t believe I’m actually going to the NY Times to substantiate what actually occurred!
January 17, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Missy, you’re absolutely right. The problem in 2004 (apologies if this is in the article; didn’t read it) was that Conan was hot, and NBC was afraid they were going to lose him. So they worked out the 5-year plan, but circumstances didn’t go well. Jay remained the king, while Craig Ferguson and the internet sucked the wind out of Conan’s buzz. By the time the switch was due, it was obvious to any idiot that NBC was going to have to pay Conan for breaking the agreement. But nooooo, they had a better idea. Um, no.
January 17, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Boogie – no, there have been no leaks or talking about why, specifically, he was pushed out.
As much as intriguing is who leaked this and why.
January 17, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I give up, can we get the Doc-Bloc back? MSNBC is running the same packages in different arrangements that I saw late last night. There’s nothing “live” about their Haiti coverage.
January 17, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Bushleaguer, the first question to ask is: Who has something to gain from this?
Often the spurned party is the one who leaks info that makes the other side look bad, and the story seems more damaging to Beck than to the producer.
The next questions are: Was his firing (or being forced out) justified? Was he a good or bad fit for the show? Was there an ideologic conflict (many, many staffers at FNC are quite liberal)? Was it a matter of a personality clash? Is Beck’s staff difficult to work with? Did they drive the guy out because they didn’t like his political views?
January 18, 2010 at 7:13 am
Once you retire from a show, you retire from a show, which is what Leno did (against his will). Keep in mind Conan’s ratings weren’t much worse than Jay’s at first, until Jay’s Primetime show premiered.
The real loser here is NBC, because they are losing talent, losing money, looking pathetic, and losing ratings. Only NBC could screw up something this badly. No wonder MSNBC has such pathetic management!
January 18, 2010 at 7:26 am
Once you retire from a show, you retire from a show, which is what Leno did (against his will).
So Leno is the Brett Favre of nighttime TV?
The real loser here is NBC, because they are losing talent, losing money, looking pathetic, and losing ratings.
And now they need to come up with something for the 10-11 p.m. weeknight slot, which won’t be cheap. And probably not particularly good either.